Demo2DeRo: The
Urbanites

February 23, 2010

BY JIM DeROGATIS POP
MUSIC CRITIC

While NBC 5 weather princess Ginger
Zee is unlikely to be eclipsed any
time soon as the hottest
Valparaiso-to-Chicago export, her
Indiana neighbors in the art-rock
quartet Urbanites are on their way
to generating nearly as much
excitement, at least in the indie-rock
world.

Songwriters,
multi-instrumentalists and long-time
buddies Bradley Briggs, Steven
Burkholder, DJ Field and Jeremy
Schering started making music
together in 2007 by swapping
computer files of bits and pieces of
songs in progress. Eventually, a
debut EP, "A Ghost in the Electric
City," took shape, and the four
began rehearsing in the real (as
opposed to digital) world.

Since then, the buzz has built
thanks to shows at Metro, Double
Door and Schubas. Now comes a
second, much more focused and
impressive EP, "The Years," which
the group proudly notes was recorded
live to analog tape at Chicago's
Electrical Audio Studios, and which
splits the difference between the
glossy, arena-rattling grandeur of
mainstream modern rockers such as
MGMT or the Killers and much more
methodical, introspective local
post-rockers and indie-pop mavens
like the Sea and Cake.